


Reconnecting

by rinnytin



Series: Connection Errors [2]
Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: A SEQUEL THAT NOBODY WANTED YEEHAW, Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-28
Updated: 2019-10-20
Packaged: 2020-05-28 07:51:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19389736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rinnytin/pseuds/rinnytin
Summary: Sequel to Connection Errors...





	1. Testing Connection

**Author's Note:**

> Oh yeehaw boys, I am BACK!!! With a Sequel!! I ended [Connection Erros](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11875524/chapters/26815518) knowing that I wanted to make this, so please read that before bc that ""Establishes the world"".

A year and a half have passed since you decided to give up being a cam girl, 7 months since you decided to drop out of college entirely. Jack had moved up in administration becoming the Dean of Technological Studies and having to see his name, his face plastered across every university-related news was too much. You had a handful of credits left to graduate, but in manic energy you dropped out and invested some of the rainy-day funds into Jack’s start-up tech company after you settled, knowing that he was more than capable of shooting up to success and currently it was paying off. You kept in touch with Jack, getting casual updates about things going on at the University and some personal achievements. He was currently in a relationship, but that’s all you know on that.

“Rhys, can you get some painkillers, please. I feel like I’m dying.” You groaned, rubbing your eyes to try and ease the strain you felt after staring at the monitor for god knows how long. You pushed the number filled notepad to the side, deciding to go through your emails while you waited for Rhys - emails from potential employers, junk promotions and the various random newsletters you signed up for at one point but are too lazy to unsubscribe from. You hovered over a message from someone named Madeline, the subject: I know about you and Jack Lawerance. You click it, looking back to the kitchen and seeing Rhys rummage through the pill bottles in the pantry before reading through it.

_Hello,_

_You don’t know me, but I know you. I know a lot about you too. You see, I’m Jack’s girlfriend and after some looking around, I found an engagement ring hidden away in his dresser with a note addressed to “Princess.” I decided to look into Jack’s history and who this would mystery Princess would be and wouldn’t you know, there was a Princess contact in his phone. Found out a whole lot about you, sweetheart. Wouldn’t it be a shame if the university found out your guys’ relationship and all those advantages that he gave you would be exposed? I’m pretty sure that would ruin your transcript and any chance of a drop out like you from getting a decent job, especially if I tell them about your old little job of being a digital whore. If you want to save some of your dignity, you better lose Jack’s number and pull your investment in his company._

_Thanks,_

_Madeline Moxxi ♥_

You read it over twice, trying to figure out if this was some elaborate joke from Jack. But you knew that he wasn’t that mean, even after everything, you were on speaking terms and hell, you’ve even been out for drinks a few times because of Rhys and Tim.

“Hey Rhys, do you know anyone named Madaline Moxxi?” You called out, looking over to him and watching as he fumbled with the bottle in his hands and dropped it to the floor.

“Uh, uh. Yes? I mean, I don’t know her personally, but I know of her. Why?” He picked the bottle up, walking over to you and putting it down on the table before sitting down.

“Who is she?” You wanted to confirm that Rhys did actually know her before dropping this on him.

“Well, she’s Jack’s new girlfriend. Lowkey a crazy bitch, like both crazy and a bitch. Again, why?”

“She’s threatening me,” You spin your laptop around and let him read over it.

“Sounds like her. You should tell Jack; I know she’s threating to drop all your info but this is not at all okay. “

Your phone buzzed against the table and you picked it up, feeling your stomach tighten as you read the notification.

_New Message from Jack ♥_

_Hey, I got some great news about the company gonna have a celebratory dinner at my place, tonight at 7!_

“Jack just texted me that we’re having dinner at his place tonight. I guess it will be better to drop this on him in person.” You smiled at Rhys, watching as he stared intently at the computer screen.

“Oh yeah, Tim was telling me about something about a big business deal coming through. Didn’t tell me we were having dinner though, must have been a last-minute thing.” Rhys said, turning the computer back around and pushing it toward you.

“Do you think that she’s going to be there?”

“Probably not, she has a bar or something. I’ve only seen her come around a few times, mostly leaving.” Rhys slid down on his seat, the back of his neck resting on the back on the chair and he glanced over at you before smiling.

“If she is there, please raise some hell. Tim has told me the horror stories of being around her so I think it will be very much appreciated.”

***

Seeing Jack’s house come into view stirred up something in you that was difficult to place a finger on. It was an aggressive “butterflies in your stomach” feeling but instead of the fear of making a fool of yourself in front of a playground crush, it was the fear of ruining your whole life in the blink of an eye.

“Hey, guys!” Tim gave you a hug before turning to Rhys and giving him a kiss. “Make yourself comfortable, Jack and I are still cooking.”

He moved aside, letting you and Rhys pass before he closed the door. The click of the lock startled up and Tim looked at Rhys then back at you. Rhys gave him a look – something that you knew said “I’ll tell you later” and Tim just nodded.

“I’m going to say hi to Jack.” You excuse yourself and make your way to the kitchen, stopping just short of the door. You could feel the anxiety start to bubble, a bitter taste in the back of your throat making it feel like you were about to vomit at any moment. You swallowed the little saliva in your mouth, trying to dull the foul taste that you were sure was only in your head. Jack had his back to the door, bending over and checking something in the oven. You could turn back right now if you really wanted to.

“Hey, Jack,” You said, aware that your voice cracked in the middle of the hey. You cleared your throat, trying to make it seem like there was something in your throat rather than the nerves. It was too late to make any moves to leave now that you made your presence known and that seemed to make it worse.

“Oh shit, hey!” He turned around, holding a heavy looking pot that he slid onto the counter. He tossed the oven mitts next it and you smiled at him, walking over to straighten out his tie without much thought. Your anxiety disappeared and you felt relaxed as Jack’s hand fell heavy against your hip.

“Sorry if I scared you.” You mumbled and Jack just chuckled at that.

“I’ve been busy cooking for hours, you got here early.”

You realized just how close you were and cleared your throat, taking a step back and moving to check what Jack has been cooking. You wanted something else to talk about, not wanting to even think about his girlfriend.

“Before we celebrate, I wanted to talk about some not so fun things.” Jack stepped next to you and you felt your chest tighten, but you nodded.

“Same, actually. But can we please talk about it later, I don’t want to spoil the night.”

“Of course,” Jack let out a sigh and for a moment, it felt like all the air in the room had been sucked out making it hard for you to breath. You quickly turned around, knocking into Jack who was startled by your quick movement.

“I... I need to get some air.” You didn’t care that Jack noticed your panic and you rushed past him, heading towards the door to the back. Jack followed and you just wanted to scream, wanting to tell him to leave you alone. About how being here was going to ruin your life.

“She can’t do anything you know. And if she releases any of the information, I’ll sue her for millions in defamation and honestly, whatever I possibly can.” Jack spoke so calmly and it only made you more frustrated.

“You can sue her, but it won't matter once she releases all my shit into the world! How did you even know about this?” You turned around, jabbing a finger into his chest.

He took in a deep breath and you just stared at him, waiting for his answer.

“Rhys told Tim, Tim told me. But she’s only threatening you but she thinks that if you leave the picture completely, I’ll get back together with her.” Jack said and that calmed you down slightly for some reason.

You just nodded, opening your mouth to speak but you’re interrupted with a beeping. Jack pulled out his phone, groaning as he answered it.

“What do you want, Madeline?” He was quiet for a few minutes and you could just barely hear her speaking. Jack muttered a curse under his breath, looking at you with what you read as a sympathetic smile, “Yeah. Yeah, you’ll be hearing from the company lawyer in the morning.”

He hung up and as he did, your phone buzzed in your pocket. You knew what happened but looked at it expecting it to be nothing.

_College dropout fucks professor for money and grades._


	2. New Message (100+)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Wrath of Mad Moxxi - such a darling name for a life-ruining experience.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to wait a bit before posting up this chapter just so if anyone new started following along had time to read Connection Errors! Thank you for the kudos and comments so far, I hope you are going to enjoy this dramatic rollercoaster ♥

You just ignored the message, walking into the dining room where Tim and Rhys had already set up.

  
“Hey-” Rhys came up to you and out a hand on your shoulder and you shrugged it off.

  
“We’re not talking about it. It’s being taken care of.” You said, forcing a smile before helping Jack set the food out.

  
It turns out that the deal that went through was with the site that you used to cam on. They switched their server security over to Jack’s company, a process that has been in the works for the last few months but it went through. And now Jack was sitting on a multi-MILLION-dollar partnership that just established it as a legitimate company. It was enough to forgot about the problem – or maybe it was the three bottles of wine that you shared.

  
“Don’t...Don’t do that.” You tossed your shirt in his general direction, missing him completely.

  
“Do what? I’m just sitting here,” Jack was sitting at the edge of his bed, staring at you as you filed through his clothes.

  
“You’re staring at me. For like, way too long.”

  
You and Rhys were drunk and Tim, god bless his self-control, was sober enough to talk you into staying the night. You forgot about the whole thing with Madeline – an event that Rhys has dubbed the Wrath of Mad Moxxi – and were now searching through his shirts for something to wear to sleep in just your underwear.

  
“Oh sorry. I didn’t realize.” He looked away and you smiled at the ruddy blush that crept up his cheeks.

  
You settled on wearing a grey sweatshirt that was too oversized and pulled it on, letting it fall to your thighs. You spun around in a way that you thought was graceful, but it was a slow stumble in reality. You tripped and Jack caught you by the waist, letting you fall onto his lap.

  
“This is weird, you know? Like, we were dating and then we were not.” You laughed and pressed your head against his shoulder, the smell of his cologne and the faint sharpness of the wine on his breath was too much of a sensory overload. You pulled away aggressively, nearly toppling yourself out of his lap.

  
“I am so stupid! You’re like, the best thing that I ever had and I just left you! What is wrong with me!”

  
“There is nothing wrong with you and none of the matters anymore, Princess. We can just hit the reset button on everything, run the company together and I don’t know, forget about everything.” You smiled at him, nodded the idea of running the company sounds nice now that your life was ruined.

  
“I kissed Rhys, did you know?” You stood up and sat down on the bed, taking Jacks hand and playing with one of his rings, “Like... I kissed him because I thought that I wanted to be with him, and not with you. But I... I didn’t feel anything. I thought there was gonna be like fireworks or something, but there wasn’t. It just made me feel… bad.”

  
“I know, Rhys felt guilty and told me. You know that I don’t care that it happened, you and Rhys obviously have been through a lot together.” You smiled and just nodded again, blinking away the blurriness that began to grow at the edge of your vision.

* * *

  
You groaned as you opened your eyes, the thin beams of sunlight streaming in from the closed blinds was enough to make you aware of the dulled throbbing in your temples and the slight sourness in the back of your throat made you want to throw up. You blinked a few times, trying to get adjusted to the light, groaning once more as the door let out a loud whine as it was slowly pushed open.  
“Shit, sorry. I came to see if you’re awake, I made breakfast. Toast, eggs, bacon, pancakes. Tim made vegan French toast too.” Jack came in and shut the curtains, removing one of the things that were currently irritating you. He paced around the room and pulled some papered out from his drawers, shuffling through them quickly. 

  
“Sounds good. I’ll be down in a minute.” You said, sitting up and stretching out – even crack of your joints slightly painful but satisfying.

  
“There are some legal people downstairs. I know you are hungover, but Tim called them in because it is better to get things started before this gets bigger.” He sounded defeated, something that about his voice was tired and you felt guilty.

  
“Yeah, it’s fine. I want this to be over as soon as it can be.” You say up, reaching for your phone on the nightstand, smiling when you realized that Jack must have charged it last night. The moment was short-lived when you were greets but hundreds of notifications.

  
“Shit. Fuck!” You yelled as you opened up email after email from family and friends, all asking about the videos and situation. It did little to cure your hangover, but the anxiety and anger did well enough to get you out of bed without much complaint.

  
“Give me my skirt from yesterday. And if you have a button-down that will fit me.” Jack picked your skirt off the floor, tossing it onto the bed, as he walked to his closet to get you a shirt.  
You pulled off his sweatshirt and pulled your hair out of rat nest looking bun that it had tangled itself into and did your best to comb it out with your fingers. You needed to look presentable before you went downstairs because right now, you were interested in just skirting around the issue and telling them the problem, you wanted to get to work.  
“Babe, calm down. Go take a shower and clean up, I’m going to start talking to the guys on what we need to move forward. We got this.” He kissed your shoulder and grabbed you by the wrists, pulling your hands away from your hair. It wasn’t until he did that did you realize how your hands were shaking, the stress of just seeing how everyone has seen the news was too much and you wanted to scream. To run and just keep running until your lungs collapsed and you were far from anyone you knew.

  
“Well, this isn’t going to be over any time soon because everyone in my family has seen it and I have an inbox with over a hundred emails from university staff, friends, former professors, probably all asking if I really did fuck my way to where I was. So, have fun with telling them that I want this bitch taken down in the worst way possible. Defamation, stalking, revenge porn, doxing. Whatever they can hit her with, I want it to happen.” You pulled yourself from his grip, grabbing your clothes off the bed and heading towards the bathroom.

  
“Take my phone, you can sort through the emails if that will help.” You called out, the new determination was enough to get you to power through the pounding headache as you flicked on the lights of the bathroom. You riffled through the medicine cabinet for aspirin, finding the bottle and knocking three back to hopefully settle the pain.

  
Jack picked your phone up, smiling at the lock screen of you, Rhys, and Vaughn standing in front of a checkerboarded wall with a neon sign that read “Not your whore!” in curly script. Your password was always the same, 161969, the birthday of some actor that you loved when you were younger and never changed. You left an email opened from someone named, Janet Strongfork – the last name making Jake snort in laughter.

  
_I can’t believe that you of all people would have dragged my darling son into your disgusting games of sex. When you left to University, I expected that you would have had a change of heart and that your sex work ways would have died down. But to be to having sex with a professor and making your grades in such disgusting dishonest way? I expected better from you and my son. I’ve already contacted Rhys, but just know that you both are no longer welcome in my home._  
_Blessings,_  
_Janet Strongfork_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [So I would really appreciate if you guys check out my very Long update post on my website. I talk about my Current Situation and what is going on!!](https://lillapion.carrd.co/#update)
> 
> Thanks to everyone who is sticking around! Next update is coming up soon!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FILLER FILLER FILLER BC I AM DUMB AND I NEEDED TO JUST LAY THINGS OUT : )))

You walked downstairs, the headache subsiding enough for you to go into business mode, but you stopped, just shy of the last step. Rhys was sitting at the table, across from the well-dressed legal people, his head in his hands. You could tell by the slight shaking of his shoulders that he was crying.

“We’re disowned from everyone now.” He lifted his head, and you sighed.

“If it’s any consolation, your mom is lowkey homophobic so we were getting disowned by her sooner or later.” You shrugged as you continued your walk to the kitchen, making a cup of coffee.

“Are you being serious right now? This isn’t just all about you! You...you fucked this up for all of us!” Rhys got up suddenly, knocking his chair back with a loud thud against the hardwood floor. He turned and you could see the red splotched of skin around his eyes from crying.

“Rhys, why don’t you go home with Tim. I’ll call your mom, explain to her that you had no part in all this. That is was all me and that you shouldn’t be disowned because I’m a whore.” You picked up the chair, setting it back upright before taking a seat next to one of the lawyers.

“She’s right, Rhys. Sure, we all took a blow from this, but in the end, we can recover without having to go through all this,” Jack gestured towards the table at the papers scattered around, various pictures of you and screenshots of your videos scribbled with notes, “And this is just the beginning. I know you're mad and upset, but we need to be working together right now, not against each other.”

“No! You know that my mom was the only person in our whole town that kept contact with us after her little business was found out, I was disowned with her because I didn’t leave her. My mom is not going to let me back and there is no “recovering” from that, Jack. Hell, you have to resign from the university because of this. We are all equally fucked in this and to be honest, she’s gonna be just fine because you are going to hand her a job. I can’t get my mom back.” Rhys sighed, opening up his mouth as if he wanted to say more, but he just shook his head and walked out.

You never had a big disagreement with Rhys and you didn’t know what to do, letting him storm out without trying to stop him seemed like the best course of action. You looked at Jack, then back at the lawyers who looked uncomfortable.

“Uh, I guess we should just get to work on this."

**

As it would turn out, the process was much more than just slapping on a charge of revenge porn and moving forward, but rather a tedious process of looking through all the videos, photos and conversations that Madeline had leaked and marking off whether it was a public exchange – something from a cam show or a public video – or a private one – something that was never meant for others to see. Since camming technically put you on unsteady grounds considering it was for public consumption because she used your full name and other information, she burned that safety net and you and Jack were planning on charging her separately. Just with your revenge porn charge, she was already looking at a fine of $150K and possible year in prison.

Maybe you were going overboard, putting this woman’s entire future on the line for sharing videos that anyone who knew your old cam identity would be able to dig up on the back pages of some sketchy porn site. In your heart, you knew that it was too much because Rhys was right, Jack was going to take care of you. It was just the idea of letting some woman win while destroying all contacts you had and trying to make Jack go down with you, that let you push that down and go through with it. She ruined your life, it’s only fair that you ruin hers. An eye for an eye, right?

“Hello? Mrs. Strongfork?” Your voice cracked as you spoke.

_“I told you that I don’t want to talk to you.”_

“I know, I just wanted to ask you to forgive Rhys. His involvement in the situation was minimal, he acted as moral support and he doesn’t deserve to lose his mother over my mistakes.”

_“Oh no, sweetheart, you were just a small part of the reason I want no involvement with Rhys. He might not do what you do on camera, but he is a bigger sinner than you. Sleeping with men is unforgivable, but I can forgive you. I know in my heart that you did what you did out of necessity to pay for your education and home, but Rhys has no excuse.”_

You just sat there, at a loss for words because as much as you wanted her and Rhys to be on good terms, you knew that it was no use.

“I understand, Mrs. Strongfork. Don’t worry about me contacting you again. Goodbye.” You hung up before she could say anything else. You looked at Rhys who was sitting at the counter and you gave him a tight-lipped smile.

“I knew she had her issues with the idea of gay relationships, but I didn’t think that her whole “God loves all this his children” bullshit would let her just... make her hate me like that.” You got up and hugged Rhys from behind, kissing his shoulder and resting your cheek against him.

“I’m sorry, Rhys. Things are pretty shit right now, but we’re a family and we are going to get through this. I’m sorry for being a dick to you this morning.”

“You’re fine, I know that having all this come down on you in a night is probably much more stressful than just having a homophobic mom disown you.” He let out a sad chuckle and you squeezed him tighter.

“Don’t say that, Rhys. I lost everyone back home too, and I know how shit it feels.”

You let him go and kissed his shoulder once more, letting him wrap his arm around your shoulders and pull you in. You let him hold you there for a moment longer, smiling at him as you pulled back and sat back down at the table. Jack and Tim had gone out to get food and you and Rhys had been sitting in the dining area, trying to get your minds off the situation for at least an hour.

“Are you Jack getting back together?” Rhys asked and your eyes widened, you wanted to blurt out a yes because that is what you wanted but you just paused. You looked at Rhys and shrugged before looking at the ground.

“I don’t know, Rhys. We just need to see what happens with the legal stuff first because I feel like this might just fuck everything up.”

“Doubt it, and I know that you do too. Jack is going to want to be with you after all this is done because he still wanted you after you like, shattered his heart because you freaked out. I hate to be an asshole, but you would be legitimately stupid if you don’t get back with him.”

“I want to get back with him, but I just feel guilty about leaving in the first place.”

“Listen, when Jack and Tim come back, I want you to greet him with a hug. A kiss, if you’re feeling risky. If he wants an explanation, which I doubt he will tell him that you’re just really thankful that he’s helping you with everything.” Rhys shrugged as if it was obvious and you just rolled your eyes, it wasn’t going to be that easy. Or was it?

You sighed, knowing that Rhys was probably right and it was going to be that easy. It annoyed to you; you wanted there to be some kind of difficulty in winning Jack back. Maybe it was the guilt that you’ve been holding onto that made you feel like you had to work to be able to be worthy of receiving affection from him. You wanted him to know that you were sorry and that you regretted what you did, all of it. You looked at Rhys then to your phone, scrolling through the notifications and deciding that Rhys’ plan was worth a shot, even if you didn’t want it to work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [♥ Follow my Twitter for updates ♥ ](https://twitter.com/lillapeony)


	4. UPDATE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bye

I've been thinking about this for a while because I wasn't ever going to make a return to writing more or completing any of my fics that I left for dead in 2017, but I did come back and I wanted to retry writing these fics that I really wanted to love and have them work out. But they didn't and honestly, every time I open a doc and try to complete a chapter I get filled with such a sense of dread and so much anxiety that I just feel myself wanting to stop writing everything. 

At first, I thought that it was just my feeling towards writing, but I realized in the last month that it had zero to do with writing itself, but with the subject matter. Borderlands no longer has the same hold over my heart as it did when I first started writing and I'm not really as big into the fandom anymore. While I really do love Jack and Rhys, I feel like they both just have run out of new content that can sustain my writing in a way that is enjoyable for me anymore.

If you read any of my fics over the last two years if you left a comment or kudos. Thank you! Thank you so much for reading and enjoying the shitty little stories that I made to indulge myself. I never thought that writing fanfiction would have brought me anything but embarrassment, but here I am, really proud of completing some projects. 

I'm really sad to leave these stories unfinished, but they weren't going anywhere so I wanted to give a formal "This is not being completed" notice. So there it is, this the notice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Follow my Twitter for updates ](https://twitter.com/j_sminem)   
>  [Check out my website for all my other links :) ](https://j-sminem.carrd.co)   
>  [You can send any requests here! ](https://curiouscat.me/j_sminem)

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!! Catch me on [TWITTER](https://twitter.com/lillapeony) for life updates and other links for socials!! ♥♥


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